A Shower Before or After the Birth?

This is where you have a party on the day home from the hospital with baby, or sometime soon after. You either host it yourself, or someone else does, in shower style. Sometimes gifts are given, other times it's just a chance to meet your new bundle of joy.

Personally, this is one of those ideas that sound great on the surface, part of the fairy tale we imagine having a baby for the first time is, before the harsh realities of motherhood strike about a minute after the child pops out. The exhaustion, the worry, the pain, the work ...

See the pictures of housefullofkidsz' party. Looks like it was a fantastic time, but she told the moms in the Pregnancy group that she probably wouldn't do it again: "It was honestly pretty stressful for me. We had a new baby, had to clean the house, be a hostess, worry about germs, etc. Don't get me wrong, we had fun, but too much work with a new baby."

On the other hand, it's nice for folks like me who didn't find out the sex to get the appropriate gender clothing and accessories and other things I really need, so I can see both sides. Cafe Lisa notes it's also called a "sip and see."

"We had one at my mom's house a few weeks after our son was born. It was lots of fun -- and really nice to see everyone because I felt like I was in hibernation for the last days of pregnancy and the first weeks of his life.

"We filled an old baby carriage with potted daisies and had bowls of Baby Ruths and Sugar Babies for decoration. He didn't really get passed around because he was so little. He was awake for a bit and then napped in the bedroom."